Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online
This is what the rebuild of Boundary Dam Unit 3 looked like in 2013. Photo by Brian Zinchuk
The long-awaited Saskatchewan New Democratic Party long-term plan for the provincial electrical grid was released in Regina on April 8, and it puts a lot of emphasis on natural gas-fired power generation, wind, solar and storage, eventual nuclear power, but an end to coal-fired power “as practical.” Instead, coal units would be converted to natural gas for their fuel.
Pipeline Online went through the document, reviewed the press conference and spoke at length to Aleana Young, NDP Economy and Jobs Shadow Minister, who has spent six years on the SaskPower file. Crown Investments Corporation Minister and Minister Responsible for SaskPower Jeremy Harrison also sent a reply by email.
This story is massive, and as such will be broken into several parts. It’s the most depth made available on this topic after months of development by the “government in waiting.”
In this piece, rate increases and carbon taxes were not specific headings in the NDP’s plan, but were important discussion points.
Scott Moe, Carla Beck, Jeremy Harrison, Aleana Young. Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan
Governance and Fiscal Management
Strong governance protects a critical public asset and restores public and investor confidence. The Grid and Growth Plan includes key reforms to strengthen transparency, accountability, and long-term planning at SaskPower.
The Plan will:
- Establish an independent energy regulator to provide expert oversight and act as a check on government decision-making, aligning Saskatchewan with every other Canadian jurisdiction
- Modernize SaskPower’s governance policies and strengthen board oversight
- Require multi-year, publicly available business and capital plans
- Implement transparent procurement, forecasting, and reporting practices
These reforms will rebuild trust, improve long-term decision-making, and ensure SaskPower operates with the discipline expected of a major public utility. In doing so, they will restore public confidence, support the existence of our Crown, and position Saskatchewan as a highly attractive destination for investment.
Young said she’s excited about “The commitment to independence and expert oversight at SaskPower, an independent energy regulator, resetting the governance culture at SaskPower, ensuring that accountability is there. Those are fundamental to the survival of the Crown, to quality of life in Saskatchewan.
“We heard that from industry two weeks ago, the partisan and political decision making that is impacting the most fundamental thing in Saskatchewan, electricity, is driving away investment. It’s increasing people’s bills.
“Again, this is a state of historic loss for SaskPower. This is not typical. This is a Crown that has existed for generations and has never been in this state. Governance isn’t maybe the sexiest part of this plan, as I said, building out natural gas capacity, having renewable expansion, which, to your question, is funded by the private sector, not the taxpayers of Saskatchewan, and allows us to have power when the sun shines and the wind blows, that will keep power rates lower, that will keep power affordable. But we cannot do that if SaskPower is a political play thing for the government instead of a mature, responsive utility.”
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Labour & Economic Development
Over the past 18 years, labour force development has been a cycle of stops and starts, leading to nearly two decades of missed experience in the electricity sector. People are our supply chain. Training, skills development, and workforce planning must begin today.
Electricity investment is workforce investment. The Grid and Growth Plan prioritizes training through regional colleges, Indigenous and local procurement, skilled trades and engineering workforce development, and alignment of training with project timelines. Additional initiatives such as local and First Nations training plans, hiring commitments, training funds and local/Fist Nations contracting value will strengthen the economic benefit to Saskatchewan.
Workers on the Boundary Dam Unit 3 project in 2013. Photo by Brian Zinchuk
On labour, Beck said in the press conference, “One of the things that’s clear, you’ve got a government in power right now that has punted this decision down the road for year after year, with no plan for those workers in places like Estevan and Coronach.
“As Aleana just mentioned, with our plan, there are jobs. There’s training that is needed, that this government has simply failed to engage in. We’d want to, I’m sure, continue to have talks with those workers in not only in Estevan and Coronach, but across the province, to ensure that we are making the investments today, doing the planning today, to ensure that we have the workers in this province who can work in industries such as the nuclear industry. Something that we’ve heard from labor time and time again, that we need to be training those workers now, that we need to be ensuring that we have the workforce in place to be able to build out nuclear energy, for example.
“And there’s a lot of concern that this government simply has failed to take those basic steps. So we’ll continue to work with those communities. I’m sure that there is, is a lot of concern there, and, you know, we’d be, as I said, interested. We have worked with labor at the table, prior to today. We’ll be meeting with them in the future to ensure that their concerns are on the table and that the job prospects for those workers is part of part of this plan.”
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Rate Increases
The NDP have been hammering the Sask. Party government frequently on the rate increases announced for SaskPower that took place this April 1 and will again take place next April. 1. They’ve also spoken about SaskPower losing money. In the plan, the NDP note, “SaskPower’s financial situation has deteriorated sharply over recent years. Since 2018-19, the company’s net income has fallen by over $400 million while its debt has risen sharply. While SaskPower’s objectives should be focused on achieving affordable, secure and reliable power, decisions based on political factors have driven up rate increases. It is critical to refocus on strategic long term business decisions that will protect Saskatchewan people and business.”
Pipeline Online asked, “How do you increase revenue without rate increases? How do you build any of this infrastructure, including natural gas plants or conversion of coal plants or nuclear? How do you do that without rate increases?”
Young replied, “So there’s two choices for the people of the province. We have the government’s plan, which cost the most and has the highest possible rate impacts of any plan. And this is before the cost tripled, and this is before they said they were going to apply a carbon tax to their own coal fleet, or have a plan that is flexible and has lower rates, lower costs and more long-term investments for the province.
“That’s the choice that we’re presenting to the people of Saskatchewan with our plan.
In terms of the government’s current rate application. Everyone from SARM to the CFIB, pass to the 20 largest industrial customers in the province to Chambers of Commerce to the government’s own rate review panel, have spoken out against this rate increase and process. There is a staggering lack of information, accountability, and I would say honesty, in terms of what SaskPower, what the Sask. Party government is asking for.
“If they are going to go to the rate review panel, to the people in the industries of Saskatchewan and say, ‘We need to increase your rates,’ what you have heard from again, not card-carrying, New Democrats, SARM, CFIB, 20 biggest industries, SICA and the government zone appointed review panel is that there needs to be transparency and dialog and accountability in this process. The Sask. Party has not showed us the cost of their plan. They have not showed us the rate implications of their plan, right?
“So yes, we’re going to criticize them on the rate increases.
“From now until 2050, will we see an increase in power bills in the province? Sure. Yes. Like yes, things will cost more likely between now and 2050, I suppose, unless Donald Trump bombs us all back to stone age. But the choice that people have is the highest possible costs with the highest risks and no off ramp. For the lowest cost, lowest rate impacts a transparent, independent and accountable Crown. And this is what industry is asking for. It’s not every day that the biggest industries in Saskatchewan go to the government and say, ‘The way that you’re conducting business here is driving away investment, and it will have real and immediate consequences.’
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Pipeline Online said, “Fair enough. No one wants to see their rates increase, and no, and no one’s ever going to be happy with that. But the cost of Aspen was triple the cost of Chinook. The costs are going up. How does the NDP pay for this build out of the transmission lines and pay for the natural gas expansion? How do you do that without increasing rates?”
Young replied, “Ours builds out natural gas – not greenfield – which you’ll note. The minister is always happy to talk about building out greenfield natural gas in the province. He doesn’t want to talk about the fact that just next door in Alberta, they retrofitted some of their coal assets with natural gas for a third of the cost of the minister’s originally committed $900 million figure. Right? In Alberta industry retrofit 1,600 megawatts of coal for 300 million bucks. I see this happening in the States. It has happened in Arizona. It’s all over the place, and there are significantly more affordable choices that the government could be making.
“Build out renewables. There’s going to be people who like that for, you know, environmental reasons, and that’s great. It is also the most affordable way to get more power on to the grid at next to no cost to the taxpayer. These are costs born by private industry right now with the Sask. Party are asking the province to pay for. They’re asking us to pay for an unknown total cost for coal refurbishment. It’s tripled in the past month, and believe me when I tell you, this is the new cost, but it is not the true cost, and they are going to be building out SMRs at the same time, and they are going to be building out their, you know, entire transmission plan that they put out recently. Our plan is the highest cost with the highest rate impact. People have a choice between the highest costs or significantly lower costs.”
Young says they won’t be doing all of this simultaneously, and portions “wont’ be on the public dime.” That’s a clear reference to wind and solar being built by independent power producers. But transmission lines, and nuclear power, are typically built with public money.
Youn said, “Transmission is going to be on the public dime. In our plan, we’re building out nuclear on reasonable timelines, the Sask. Party government’s timeline for SMRs is just quietly slipping two, four years into the future, while they are talking about building it out simultaneously with coal, simultaneously with transmission. They will not tell you how much it costs, because the number is staggering.”
Young said the government’s plan, which includes coal refurbishment, nuclear and transmission expansions, “will cost upwards of $60 billion, so ours would be $20 billion, at most.”
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Carbon tax
A year ago, Premier Scoot Moe declared Saskatchewan was free of the carbon tax. That included the industrial carbon tax, also referred to as the Output Based Pricing System. But the NDP have been questioning if it is truly dead.
Young said, “The Sask. Party has had an impact on industry and on the electricity sector since 2022. They don’t like to talk about it, but this is a fact. There is legislation. They have collected hundreds of millions of dollars. It is how they were planning on paying for SMRs. Don’t take my word for it. Take Scott Moe’s.
“They stopped, they said they canceled the carbon tax on April 1 of last year, and yet, mysteriously, they did not repeal the legislation. They continued to show the revenues and the liabilities from this their books in each quarterly financial statement.
“And so it’s been a mystery like Schrödinger’s carbon tax, is it real or is it false? And for the first time, we had the Minister of Environment, in committee, on Wednesday of last week. It was April 1, ironically, and she said in check the Hansard that yes, the Sask. Party government is renegotiating to bring back provincial carbon tax. And I was in committee, and I asked if it was the Government’s intention to bring this back on to the electrical sector, because, again, if the coal plants are now paying a hefty carbon tax to the province, that makes this (coal refurbishment) decision even more perplexing, because the costs then go through the roof. It’s, you know, not a secret, obviously, that coal is the most emissions intensive. So to choose that while also applying a carbon tax to your own plants, it makes no sense.
“What the government’s logic is? I can’t speak to. The minister was unwilling and unable to provide any context. I encourage you to go watch the first 30 minutes of committee on Wednesday. You can see for yourself. But this is something that the Sask Party government needs to answer for. Industry’s carrying the liability. The taxpayers of Saskatchewan are carrying the liability, and it boggles the mind how SaskPower would be making sound investment decisions about their generation capacity going up to 2050 while also applying carbon tax to their own plants.”
This concludes this 4 part series. CTV’s piece was less than a minute. And here’s the CBC piece. I can’t even find a piece on the Leader-Post or SaskToday.ca. If your business, or livelihood, depends on knowing what’s actually going on, which do you think gave you the most actionable information?
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